On January 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") issued an investor alert urging investors to use caution before investing in initial exchange offerings ("IEOs"). In contrast with an Initial Coin...more
Fund managers take note – after over a year of warning, this month the SEC announced a pair of settlement orders with respect to registration requirements for a fund and broker dealer operating in the crypto and digital...more
• Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, recently approached the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about possible licensing as a broker-dealer. If Coinbase decides to register with the SEC, it will...more
On Monday, April 2, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two co-founders of Centra Tech, Inc. (Centra), a purported financial services company headquartered in Florida, with conducting a fraudulent...more
The staff of the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets (collectively, Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 7, 2018 jointly issued a statement on digital asset trading platforms...more
On March 7, 2018, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued additional guidance with respect to digital assets trading platforms, affirming that platforms that offer trading of cryptocurrencies that are...more
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a public statement clarifying that cryptocurrencies may indeed be subject to federal securities laws, and warns investors and market participants alike of the...more
Crypto asset trading platform operators should prepare to comply with securities regulations if the crypto assets traded are securities. Key Points: ..Finding that the digital assets traded on the BitFunder platform...more
The world’s first SEC-registered cryptocurrency exchange may be just around the corner. As detailed in their October 24 Form 8-K, Overstock.com subsidiary tZERO has entered into a joint venture with The Argon Group and RenGen...more
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and other digital currency financing events have enjoyed explosive growth in 2017, with hundreds of millions of dollars invested with little to no regulation or government oversight. That era...more
Initial coin offerings (ICOs), token pre-sales, and similar sales of blockchain-based coins and tokens are quickly becoming an important fundraising option, and an important method of attempting to seed a token-based platform...more
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to present the October 2017 issue of the WSGR Fintech Update. This latest edition features an article discussing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new "Cyber Unit"...more
The new SEC Enforcement Cyber Unit will target cyber-related misconduct, including violations involving distributed ledger technology, initial coin offerings and misconduct perpetrated using the dark web....more
On July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released groundbreaking materials relating to blockchain tokens. These materials provide significant and welcome insight to the SEC’s and its staff’s thinking...more